CES 2014: Sharp Reveals the Aquos Quattron Plus Television and More

LAS VEGAS—With the rapid proliferation of massive 60-inch (or more) televisions, it's becoming harder and harder to make a product that stands out. At CES 2014, Sharp announced a line of new televisions and one in particular it thinks will be a "game changer" in the Full HD/4K space.

In the press conference, with presentations from Sharp CEO Toshi Osawa and President John Herrington, Sharp focused primarily on new additions to the Aquos line of high-definition and 4K televisions as well as SmartCentral, a reimagined Sharp smart television interface.

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Sharp's continuing to focus on large televisions, which the company helped introduce into American homes years ago, according to Osawa. Three of the televisions, Full HD, Full HD with Quattron technology, and 4K, are new iterations on previous models. The big announcement here is the Quattron Plus television, which Sharp boasts as the highest revolution HD television on the market. With 10 million more subpixels than 1080p displays (because of adding a yellow subpixel), the Quattron Plus helps bridge the gap between HD and 4K, allowing users to watch content in both resolutions. This set also has a built in upscaler to make images even sharper and THX 4K certification all at half the cost of 4K, according to Sharp.

"We never hear the quote from a consumer that my television is too big," said Herrington during the CES press conference. "We're apply new resolution technologies to these screen sizes than ever before."

Sharp also gave a short look at the reimagined SmartCentral interface. With a Netflix-type design, this platform integrates with cable, satellite, or streaming services and searches for content simultaneously among them. A free mobile app also turns users' smartphones into smart TV controllers.

Tomorrow Sharp will also display 8K glasses-free 3D sets at the Las Vegas Convention Center showroom floor, which were noticeably absent from their Monday presentation. Although this is more likely a show floor gimmick than a practical consumer device.